We've been busy every day. There is never enough time in the day! But I can't always explain all that keeps us busy. One thing is Humanitarian Donations. We are the representatives of the Church here in Albuquerque in the process that organizations go through to receive donations from the Church. It has been eye opening to see all that the Church does to help alleviate need. We met with Lutheran Family Services to learn how the Church could assist as Afghan refugees arrive in Albuquerque. This was the beginning of a new grant for them. After we met with them, we got to work to figure out how much money would be involved. We then submitted the recommendation to our boss in SLC. It went up the chain and received approval. Now we are in the process of fulfilling it. There is cash involved and items from the Bishops' Storehouse. We are also involved in the re-application of 4 or 5 other donation requests from other entities. There is so much that the Church does just here in ABQ and multiply that by every city in the world and it is amazing! Our boss has been involved in a project to bring water and electricity to a Navajo reservation town in Utah. We are looking for more opportunities to help here in our area.
Another project we have been exploring and would like to get going is a project to video the oldest members of the Native American Pueblos and Reservations to record their stories before they are lost forever. Knowing who you are and the stories of your past help a person to face the challenges of life – strengthens emotional resilience. So that is part of the reason for our effort.
We have visited several of the Native American communities. (I think it was one of our trips on a back road to one of them that did our car in. :-[ ) We were invited to speak in Alamo, a Navajo branch of the Church. The branch president invited us to his home for a late lunch after. Alamo is 2 ½ hours from ABQ so it was a welcome invitation. His home is on a ranch owned by his father-in-law. His wife grew up there. What an amazing place! It was a gathering place for ancient inhabitants. There was a huge rock outcrop, probably 150 feet high, called Council Rock. It reminded us of King Benjamin's gathering place where the people gathered to be taught. It is obvious that this was a going place in the past. The family has found hundreds of artifacts, including the stones for grinding corn, arrowheads, pieces of pottery and tools. It is located on a spring of water and there are tall trees all around (not that common in this part of New Mexico). It is a beautiful place. We were blown away by it all.
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at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque
We also had the opportunity to attend the meetings of the Swahili Branch of the Church here in ABQ. That was an amazing experience too! It's a small group but growing. There had been a baptism the day before so the lady was confirmed in church. It was all done by the Swahili members. There is a set of elders in the branch who, even though they received no MTC training in Swahili, were translating on the fly from Swahili to English and the other way around depending on who was speaking. They have picked it up after getting here and they were doing a great job. Talk about the Gift of Tongues! It was humbling to be there, the Spirit was strong.
We prepared and presented some training to Stake leaders in one stake and we are going to present in the Santa Fe Stake next Saturday in a leadership meeting associated with their Stake Conference. Preparing for those things takes time. We are trying to enlarge the vision of what Welfare and Self-Reliance is and how it can bless the lives of members and non-members. It includes but is way more than running self-reliance groups. I believe it is where the rubber meets the road in helping people change their circumstances and overcome the things that hold them back. I like to think that it is building Zion people prepared to meet the Savior.
Oh yes, one more thing. We had a fun visit from our daughter-in-law, Jessica's parents, Jim and Marilyn Barry, who are on a temple tour since they have been called to be the temple president and matron of the Provo Temple starting in September..
Well this is certainly long enough but I was trying to catch up on some of the exciting things we are experiencing. It is amazing how the Lord prepares the way for us – so many tender mercies.
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